The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, on Thursday in Abuja said that the Federal Government would soon inaugurate over one million prepayment electricity meters to reduce the metering gap nationwide.
Nebo said this at a town hall meeting with stakeholders, organised by the ministry.
He said that the intervention was to help electricity distribution companies, in which government had 40 per cent share, to reduce the metering gap.
“Government still owns 40 per cent of the DISCOs. This is why it is still giving out its own counterpart funding,” he said.
Nebo said that a mechanism was being worked out for the equitable distribution of the products to the companies.
“We still believe that every consumer should be metered; the only way to stop over billing is to provide meters to consumers,” he said.
He said that the availability of the prepayment meters was critical to the abolition of estimated billing by distribution companies.
On pipelines vandalism, he said that plans were underway by government to digitise the pipelines to forestall vandalism.
He said there was the need for a legislation to provide stiffer penalties to punish pipeline vandals.
The minister said that the country had the highest rate of electricity theft worldwide.
Nebo said that the Federal Government was collaborating with security agencies to protect pipelines across the country.
“Sabotage incidents have constrained gas supply plants and held generation at less than 4,500 mega watts,” he said.
Nebo said that in spite of the challenges, there had been improvements in power supply in the country.
“It is a shame for some people to go about saying that government has not done anything in the sector,” he said.
He said that the current administration inherited a dilapidated power sector.
Nebo said that under the gas master plan, all power plants had been connected to the 450 kilometre gas pipelines constructed by the Federal Government.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Godknows Igali, said that the meeting was aimed at getting feedback from consumers and other stakeholders.
He said that prior to the privitisation of the sector, most Nigerians were skeptical about its success.
In attendance at the meeting were distribution and generation companies, non-governmental organisations and some individual stakeholders.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
1 million meters in a country of over 400 million houses/offices/factories/schools etc. They must be joking.
ReplyDeleteSome houses already hv it!
DeleteWhat is your contribution? Where did you get your statistic from, how many have these meters before and how many are connected to the grid. Find out how many the DISCOs are providing in addition to the one provided by FG before you rushed to your harsh and crude conclusion or are an in grate?
DeleteMost times I read comments here I feel sorry for most Nigerians.You have been abused economically by your government to the extent that you don't even know good from bad anymore.Constant supply of water,electricity,good roads and affordable accommodation are things that are basic amenities' provided by good government worldwide.If after this years some of you still can praise any government in place for 6 years and only just promising to provide 1million meters now,I am very sorry for you lot
ReplyDeleteWhat of the administrations before the 6 years?. Which of the countries have you personally visited?. Do you know the meaning of " worldwide"?. Please be realistic and not sentimental. Half bread is better than none. If previous governments have started like this, by now we would have been shouted eldorado.
ReplyDeleteI am not Nigerian but British,if you are not sure write your email address here and I will contact you to get your phone number in order to call you from London.Good government worldwide does provide the stated basics and I emphasise the word 'good"
ReplyDelete